SOLON ROBINSON, 1845 547 



this field of Mars, where the verification and benefit of 

 beating swords into plow shares is so well illustrated. 

 Relics of those ancient days, are still plowed up from 

 time to time, as the plowman becomes satisfied of the 

 truth of turning up gold if he will but plow deep. Far 

 more likely to plow it, than to dig it up, out of "Kidd's 

 ship," which some of that numerous class of people who 

 seek to live by any other mode than plowing, either deep 

 or shallow, are still shallow enough to try to do at a 

 place on the river below West Point called Colwell's land- 

 ing, after one of the ancestors of the gentleman I have 

 mentioned, and who accompanied me down the river 

 and pointed out this and many other interesting spots. 

 Here it is said, $20,000 have been spent in money dig- 

 ging, which, if it had been spent in digging the soil, would 

 probably not have been sunk like the present expenditure, 

 deeper than that sought after. 



Quantity of Grass Seed soivn to the Acre. — In my own 

 neighborhood, and many other places in which I am ac- 

 quainted, four quarts to the acre of timothy seed is 

 thought to be a good seeding; and I am laughed at for 

 talking about putting on half a bushel. If such men 

 ever read, I should like to have them learn how they seed 

 land in Orange county. Noticing while on a visit to Mr. 

 Charles Downing last fall, that he was seeding down a 

 piece of ground — dry gravelly loam upon a side hill, I 

 had the curiosity to see how much seed he put on to the 

 acre, and found it was half a bushel of clean timothy, 

 one-fourth of a bushel of orchard grass, and one-eighth 

 of a bushel of clover. Now, if four quarts is enough, 

 what a waste of seed is here? And equally wasteful was 

 he in the labor bestowed upon the land. Not contented 

 with plowing and throwing on the seed in a windy day, 

 he actually sowed it carefully even, and then harrowed 

 the ground until smooth. And what is more, picked up 

 the roots, stones, and trash, besides the waste of put- 

 ting on manure. 



"Well, no wonder such folks can make $55 from a 



